The head coach of Nigeria women’s wrestling national team, Purity Akuh says his target is to qualify the remaining athletes for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Akuh told www.aclsports.com that he keeps the female elite athletes fit through some equipment the Nigeria Wrestling Federation bought for their personal use at home.
He said, “By the grace of Almighty God, my target is to qualify the remaining five categories for Nigeria. We do not want Odunayo Adekuoroye to be the only female wrestler to be in Tokyo.
“I have been keeping the elite athletes fit during the lockdown through conversation on the phone and video calls. The Nigeria Wrestling Federation bought some equipment for them to use in their different homes”.
The Ondo based coach revealed that COVID-19 affected the level of his athletes’ fitness adding that the pandemic gave him enough time to make researches.
He said, “Life without sports means no life but we have been exercising our body in our individual homes.
“I have never stopped coaching but it is a bit different because I adopt the use of video calls to monitor and supervise the activities of my athlete. More so, I had enough time to make research on how to improve and better my athletes after the lockdown”.
On his plans for the rest of 2020, he said, “I intend putting my athletes in top shape ahead of upcoming tournaments, through a serious cardio training routine, serious advice on diet, mental training, corrections through watching of our past video.
“I am very optimistic that immediately after the lockdown I just have little work for them to get back to shape”.
